Daily Notes: Monday’s Top Performances, By Several Measures

Table of Contents
Here’s the table of contents for today’s edition of the Daily Notes.

1. Monday’s Top Performances, By Several Measures
2. Today’s Notable Games (Including MLB.TV Free Game)
3. Today’s Game Odds, Translated into Winning Percentages

Monday’s Top Performances, By Several Measures
In case the reader was unaware, allow me to inform him or her that last night, under cover of darkness, FanGraphs CEO and probably your real father David Appelman added a “Yesterday” split to both the site’s batting and pitching leaderboards. As a result of that deft programming maneuver, it is now possible for readers to examine the previous day’s top performers in a single glance — and, more importantly, it’s now possible for the present author to copy-and-paste the contents of those same leaderboards into these Daily Notes pieces, thus giving readers the impression that he is “doing something.”

Inspecting this new leaderboard split, for example, we find that Milwaukee third baseman Aramis Ramirez added the most to his team’s probability of winning on Monday — largely due to a two-out, eighth-inning, go-ahead double he hit against Colorado’s Wilton Lopez with Milwaukee down 4-3. (We also find, coincidentally, Clayton Kershaw’s name amongst the day’s top-five leaders for batting WPA, on account of an eight-inning home run he hit to break a scoreless tie against San Francisco.)

From this table, we find that three players tied for the day’s best performance in terms of weighted runs above average (wRAA), Arizona right fielder Gerardo Parra doing so without the benefit of a home run.

As Appelman notes, because of the way park factors are applied to a player’s numbers (i.e. relative to his home park, not on a game-by-game basis), park-adjusted numbers like wRAA could be slightly different for players on opposing teams who produce the same precise line. Generally speaking, though, it’s a fine indication of a day’s performance.

Among starting pitchers, White Sox left-hander Chris Sale added the most in terms of win probability en route to the club’s 1-0 victory over the Royals:

While Pittsburgh right-hander A.J. Burnett posted the best xFIP among starters, on the strength of a 10-strikeout effort against the Chicago Cubs:

And, finally, very talented Kansas City reliever Kelvin Herrera posted the day’s highest average fastball velocity, according to PITCHf/x.

Today’s Notable Games (Including MLB.TV Free Game)
Baltimore at Tampa Bay | 15:10 ET ***MLB.TV Free Game***
Left-hander David Price (3.44 ERA and 4.8 WAR, per Steamer projections) faces Baltimore right-hander Jason Hammel (4.35 ERA, 1.9 WAR).

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Tampa Bay Radio.

Cleveland at Toronto | 19:05 ET
Blue Jays knuckleballer R.A. Dickey and the majority of last year’s Miami Marlins begin their most widely anticipated season in some time.

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Cleveland or Toronto Radio.

San Francisco at Los Angeles NL | 22:10 ET
Left-hander Hyun-Jin Ryu, signed by the Dodgers this offseason out of Korea for six years and $36 million, makes his major-league debut.

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Los Angeles TV / San Francisco TV or Radio.

Today’s Game Odds, Translated into Winning Percentages
Here — for purposes entirely of entertainment, and not for gambling, which is a Scourge of Propriety — are all of Tuesday’s games with moneyline odds (from relatively “sharp” sportsbook Pinnacle Sports) translated into projected winning percentages (and adjusted to account for the vigorish).

Games listed in Pacific Time for reasons that are unclear even to the author and presented in order, first, of National League and then American League and, finally, then interleague play.